Today is 2010 September 1. The 87th anniversary of the 「関東大震災」 (“Great Kanto Earthquake“) that destroyed the Tokyo area on 1923 September 1.
So every year on September 1st in Japan, it’s called 「防災の日」 (“Disaster Prevention Day”).
On this day, fire departments give fire and earthquake safety tips to people, schools hold earthquake drills, and people are encouraged to check and maintain their “earthquake kits” that are recommended to be in every home.
It is said that in Japan’s history, a major earthquake has struck on average every eighty years. So it is expected that Tokyo is due for another one.
I really hope not!
No major earthquakes have struck Tokyo in a long while (“knock on wood”), but a different disaster has hit Tokyo this summer.
A heat wave.
It was reported on the news today that the temperature this summer in Tokyo has been the hottest in 113 years!
The temperature reached 35°C a number of times this summer.
Over a hundred people died from heat stroke and thousands were hospitalized.
It has been brutally hot in Tokyo this summer…and the forecast for the rest of this week says the heat and humidity will continue.
"Uchimizu" is a traditional Japanese custom of throwing water onto the streets to lower the temperature in the city a bit.
Tokyo Five 
>recebtly as in the last year or so
I wonder why.
LikeLike
I like more rain though so it is okay with me
LikeLike
I remember you mentioned that.
Did you see my most recent post about the current weather in Tokyo?
LikeLike
>recently they have been more common
That’s strange.
LikeLike
>>The weather in Tokyo has cooled off a lot.
>it has too here
I would hope so. It’s already October! 😉
LikeLike
It just rained yesterday
LikeLike
Humid places such as Florida and Japan have a “rainy season”.
I guess California doesn’t. Is that right?
LikeLike
actually the past year or so winter is our rainy season, I like it, but it has only been recently that ther has even been something of a rainy season, this year in february it rained so hard that a generator went out for the whole day at school meaing that we had a blackout meaning I went home early
LikeLike
It must have rained quite hard if it caused the power to go out!
LikeLike
yeah and it was windy
LikeLike
>yeah and it was windy
Was it a typhoon (hurricane)?
LikeLike
no, just a winter rain storm
LikeLike
Do those storms occur often in California?
LikeLike
no, not really, but recently they have been more common
LikeLike
recebtly as in the last year or so
LikeLike
it has been the nottst ever today where I live at 109 degrees fahrenheit or 37 degrees celsius, all outdoor sports were cancelled and everyone ate inside at lunch.
LikeLike
109°F is hotter than 37°C.
Anyways, I saw on the news that California got up to 114°F (45°C)! It’s a record high temperature for California.
I can’t believe it’s that hot…and so late in the year!
Be careful not to get heat-stroke.
LikeLike
today it was only humid and semi-hot so it was more bearable, but yesterday set so many records for cities like where I live, but the highest recvorded temperature on eartn is also the highest for California in detah valley at a whopping 134 degrees fahrenheit which is 56.66 degrees celsius
LikeLike
Yes, I’ve heard that Death Valley, California is the hottest place on earth…so I guess it’s appropriately named. 😉
LikeLike
yep, I heard that palm springs, which is usually in the triple digets, was cooler than LA County which was very odd, but they were still in hte triple digits.
LikeLike
The weather in Tokyo has cooled off a lot.
It’s quite comfortable here currently.
LikeLike
it has too here, ther eis currently a lot of thunderheads around but none have past over me the lats two days
LikeLike
>sorry to hear that
It doesn’t rain that often in Japan. 😉
Usually blue skies.
LikeLike
well then I just like rain, I don’t know why, I dislike the sun unless it is windy so it is cool
LikeLike
There is currently a 台風 (typhoon) hitting Japan.
It passed north of Tokyo today and it rained really hard here all day. But it stopped raining in Tokyo early this evening.
LikeLike
It has been really cloudy here the past couple days, my favorite weather is rainy overcast.
LikeLike
I hate rain.
LikeLike
I am sorry to hear that, do you get a lot of rain in Japan?
LikeLike
>I am sorry to hear that
No need. Bad weather doesn’t bother me that much. 😉
>do you get a lot of rain in Japan?
Not unusually so. Japan’s rainfall is average for places with a humid climate.
“Rainy season” and “Typhoon season” have the most rain. Other than that, Japan is mostly blue skies.
LikeLike
Rain isn’t very common here, clouds are seemign to become mroe common during winter than before which I like ebcause clouds lead to rain a lot
LikeLike
You live in California, don’t you?
California isn’t humid so it doesn’t get a lot of rainfall (probably why California has many wild fires).
I’d think most people like the sunny weather there. Why do you prefer rainy weather?
You should live in Washington state…I’ve heard it rains a lot there.
LikeLike
Yeah, I like Oregon and Washington I have been to both, I really like Seattle
LikeLike
>I really like Seattle
Cold and rainy.
Doesn’t sound nice to me.
LikeLike
sorry to hear that, maybe I like it ebcause there is so few here
LikeLike
Well, that’s true. New Zealand’s population isn’t much bigger than Yokohama’s. There were 2 injuries in the city, no deaths.
LikeLike
>no deaths
That’s good.
LikeLike
Hey New Zealand had a 7.1 earthquake on Saturday, luckily it hit a small town, there was a 5.2 aftershock.
LikeLike
I wouldn’t say it luckily hit a small town. Christchurch is one of New Zealand’s major cities. There’s quite a bit of damage. I think the lucky thing is that it happened at the time of day it hit. If it had been during the day, it would have been a truly bad disaster with many deaths. One of my former students is there right now for a year in high school, but she’s doing fine, luckily.
LikeLike
Good to here she is good.
LikeLike
>I wouldn’t say it luckily hit a small town. Christchurch is one of New Zealand’s major cities.
But even a “major” city in New Zealand is still small compared to major cities in other countries.
Material damage is unfortunate but hopefully there weren’t many casualties (or even better…none at all).
LikeLike
>>One of my former students is there…but she’s doing fine
>Good to here she is good.
I agree. That’s good news.
LikeLike
Well that is what I meant, I was just restating what I read from a blog I follow which the owner lives in Christchurch. I meant it was small in comparison to cities in other countries.
LikeLike
>New Zealand had a 7.1 earthquake on Saturday
I hate earthquakes.
You live in California, don’t you? Have you experienced any earthquakes there?
LikeLike
I hate earthquakes. I think the biggest one was like4.something but there might have been bigger when I was little. whenever there is even a small one I gain some sort of super speed and am under a doorway in a couple of seconds, it is really creepy how I do that. during easter this year, there was an earthquake that was small, but there was an aftershock that was even smaller but it made the whole house slowly shake back and forth like you were on a boat, I thought that was actually cool.
LikeLike
>the whole house slowly shake back and forth like you were on a boat, I thought that was actually cool.
I don’t think so. When an earthquake is powerful enough to shake my house even slightly, it’s frightening.
LikeLike
Well it wasn’t really a shake, it was more like being on a boat.
LikeLike
Up to 38°C in Georgia. Several cities had the highest average temps ever.
LikeLike
Usually American people use the Fahrenheit temperature scale. Do you use Celcius normally?
So, the Southeastern U.S. is having a similar heat wave to Japan, I guess.
I can’t wait for this especially unbearable summer heat to end!
LikeLike
I don’t normally use the Celsius scale. I Just Googled the °C conversion to maintain comparisons 😉
LikeLike
>I don’t normally use the Celsius scale. I Just Googled the °C conversion to maintain comparisons
When I first came to Japan I was only used to the antiquated American measuring scales (Fahrenheit, gallons, inches, etc) but I haven’t used those systems in years.
The Metric system is much better…America should change to it.
LikeLike
Record highs set down here in the Southeast US as well. All this talk of brutal summer heat sure makes me excited about the fall…
LikeLike
I grew up in the southeastern U.S. How high did the temperature get there this summer?
LikeLike
Hot it was! For example in June when my son and me visited Tokyo. We got along well, thanks to the AC which worked well at all places. When outdoors, we walked slowly and drank a lot.
LikeLike
If you thought June was hot in Tokyo, July and August are even hotter!
LikeLike
it has gotten to 40°C of 105°F here this summer
LikeLike
When I wrote that the temperature in Tokyo reached 35°C a few times this summer, I should have written that the temperature reached at least 35°C…it has gotten up to 40°C here too.
LikeLike